If there is no gun present, then no one can kill another with a gun. It is that simple. In the mean time, a total ban (here in the US, for sure) is unlikely. Therefore, we should at LEAST make sure we are not selling guns to nutjobs or criminals by means of a simple background check. Legitimate gun owners have nothing to fear from these checks. (Curiously, this is an argument that is often made about wiretaps and other privacy invasions. If you are doing nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear.) And we should make sure, too, that all gun owners are fully competent in gun safety. I like Grab's comparison above to automobile licensing.

Any comparison of today against another era is invalid unless we consider the profound differences between the two time frames. Today is nothing like 1764 in too many ways to list. The accuracy of the guns and rapidity of reloading is but one example. Their place in the world is another. Our living patterns and lifestyles are yet another. And today we have well-armed professional gun carriers to protect us. And finally, refer back to my thread thread.cfm?threadid=81708&messages=125 of some months back that when we effectively treat the symptoms of a sick society, the necessity of protecting ourselves from other members of society goes away.

A society in wwith more gun ownership is one in which more people will die from gunfire. Hopefully, we have advanced enough to realize that. Sadly, like so many other failures of human enlightenment, it appears that we have not.